Re: Totally OT: stone fruit

Ginny wrote:
Went shopping yesterday and the new stone fruit is in. Yippee! I bought peaches, plums, necterines and apricots and had a feast fit for a king at home, just to make all you northerners green with envy. :)

The peaches were slightly soft and juicey, the plums were divine, necterines had a hint of tartness just the way I like them and the apricots were .... absolutely blah!! They had no aroma and no taste, not even a little bit. They looked beautiful with a lovely red blush, no blemishes but not one bit of flavour. Not one. I have never been so disappointed in a fruit before. Maybe the chooks will eat them as I really don't think I can. Thank goodness I only bought 6 as they were quite dear, and I had to get DH to try one in case it was just my piece of fruit. His description could not to be repeated.


That's so disappointing. I've never bought apricots in town, though now we have a proper Farmers' Market on Saturdays with truly fresh produce from the hinterland I think it may be worth while again.

Shop apricots are bred to travel. They look great but never have that soft delicate flesh you hoped for. The trouble with apricots is they bruise SO easily. We picked and packed them firm - ripe-coloured but too green for anyone in the district to eat - for a train trip that evening to the market 150 miles away, growers' market in the early morning, into the shops later that day. That was back in the 1960s, my experience working on orchards in Central Otago. Train not plane. Market in nearest city not a whole 'nother part of the world as happens today! Though yours would have been grown not too far away, Ginny?

I note you said the nectarines has a hint of tartness. I wonder if they too were a lottle under-ripe. The modern nectarine is a sad thing compared with the ones with the thick skin that went leathery as they ripened.

Apricots and nectarines are buggers for brown rot. Some breeds were more susceptible than others. In fruit with skin that is broken it spreads like wildfire. Soft ripe fruit squashes and the skin gets damaged more easily than the coloured unripe billiard-ball hard fruits. I don't know what sprays are used now, probably systemic anti-fungals applied generously early in the season - but that's just a guess.

The old breeds with fragile skin and glorious flavour were replaced in favour of "good travellers" which developed high colour even when picked hard. The flesh is dry and flavourless though they look ripe. The Japanese market went for "eating with your eyes" resulting in selection for looks, flavour being all but irrelevant.

The chooks probably will enjoy them. Or you might salvage them for yourself by cooking them. They won't be like meltingly ripe apricots but they may reveal their latent apricottiness.

A L P


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Relevant Pages

  • Re: Totally OT: stone fruit
    ... The trouble with apricots is they bruise SO easily. ... We picked and packed them firm - ripe-coloured but too green for anyone in the district to eat - for a train trip that evening to the market 150 miles away, growers' market in the early morning, into the shops later that day. ... In one such shire there is one commercial orchard left and most of the fruit is exported where of course they make more money. ... Soft ripe fruit squashes and the skin gets damaged more easily than the coloured unripe billiard-ball hard fruits. ...
    (sci.agriculture.poultry)
  • Re: Totally OT: stone fruit
    ... The peaches were slightly soft and juicey, the plums were divine, necterines had a hint of tartness just the way I like them and the apricots were ... Thank goodness I only bought 6 as they were quite dear, and I had to get DH to try one in case it was just my piece of fruit. ... I made spicy peach jam from the peaches on the various trees around my property, fig jams and preserves two weeks ago, grape jam last week and this week, and I have two quince trees absolutely laden so I have to learn what to do with those. ...
    (sci.agriculture.poultry)
  • Re: Totally OT: stone fruit
    ... The peaches were slightly soft and juicey, the plums were divine, necterines had a hint of tartness just the way I like them and the apricots were ... Thank goodness I only bought 6 as they were quite dear, and I had to get DH to try one in case it was just my piece of fruit. ... I made spicy peach jam from the peaches on the various trees around my property, fig jams and preserves two weeks ago, grape jam last week and this week, and I have two quince trees absolutely laden so I have to learn what to do with those. ...
    (sci.agriculture.poultry)
  • Re: Totally OT: stone fruit
    ... The peaches were slightly soft and juicey, the plums were divine, necterines had a hint of tartness just the way I like them and the apricots were ... Thank goodness I only bought 6 as they were quite dear, and I had to get DH to try one in case it was just my piece of fruit. ... I made spicy peach jam from the peaches on the various trees around my property, fig jams and preserves two weeks ago, grape jam last week and this week, and I have two quince trees absolutely laden so I have to learn what to do with those. ...
    (sci.agriculture.poultry)
  • Re: Totally OT: stone fruit
    ... The peaches were slightly soft and juicey, the plums were divine, necterines had a hint of tartness just the way I like them and the apricots were ... Thank goodness I only bought 6 as they were quite dear, and I had to get DH to try one in case it was just my piece of fruit. ... I made spicy peach jam from the peaches on the various trees around my property, fig jams and preserves two weeks ago, grape jam last week and this week, and I have two quince trees absolutely laden so I have to learn what to do with those. ...
    (sci.agriculture.poultry)
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